Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong Jr is the sequel to Donkey Kong. Like it's predecessor it is a single screen platform game. This time around Mario is the bad guy and he has locked Donkey Kong in a cage. Playing as Donkey Kong's son, Junior, you must collect the keys from each stage then finally unlock the cage and free Donkey Kong, defeating Mario. The consists of 4 levels and upon beating the fourth level, the game loops around and begins again on a higher difficulty and continues to do so until you run out of lives. In the first 3 levels, the aim is to avoid the obstacles and reach the top of the screen. In the fourth level, you must push 6 keys into the locks at the top of the screen to free Donkey Kong and defeat Mario. The controls are simple but effective. Junior can move left or right, he can jump and he can climb vines. Junior can hold onto either one or two vines. While holding onto two vines, Junior will climb faster but descend slower and while holding onto one vine he will climb slower but descend faster. This adds ever so slightly more depth to the gameplay. Graphically it is solid, Junior has some nice animations which give him a little more personality than Mario had in the Donkey Kong. The sound is pretty basic, but it is faithful to the arcade game. While not as influential or illustrious as the original Donkey Kong, ultimately Donkey Kong Jr is the better game and is a much more complete port. There is just a little more of everything in this game (more variety in the enemies and the stages, slightly deeper gameplay, an extra level) although it is still incredibly short and you will still see everything it has to show you within 15-20 minutes. It is fun while it lasts, but the constant repetition of the same levels and the basic nature of the game means that unless you really enjoy running up high scores, it won't last very long. If you enjoyed Donkey Kong, then you'll enjoy this too. Worth a play just to see Mario as the bad guy for a change!!